(Columbus) - Fox Sports Net, which provides regional sports programming to 85 million households, has refused to cancel a gratis anti-trapping advertisement produced by the nation’s largest animal rights group.

News Corporation, the parent company of Fox Sports Net and other Fox Cable Networks, approved a 15-second anti-trapping commercial, produced by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), as a public service announcement. Fox Sports rejected a request by the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, the nation’s leading sportsmen’s advocacy organization, to immediately pull the spot. The company will run the ad through the end of December at no cost to the anti's.

The advertisement features HSUS leader Wayne Pacelle and a second animal activist urging viewers to support trapping bans. To add to the sensationalism, the spot opens with a loud clank as a foot hold trap with teeth - a trap that has been banned throughout the country for decades - snaps shut.

A senior official for Fox told the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance that he and other associates had reviewed the ad and believe the content meets their criteria for public service announcements.

“This is not a public service announcement; it is a free political advertisement for a movement that wants to eliminate trapping, hunting and all other forms of animal use,” said U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance President Bud Pidgeon. “Hunters and anglers must understand that the Humane Society has repeatedly stated that a ban on trapping is merely a means of softening public sentiment to clear the way for a ban on all hunting and fishing. Hunters, trappers and anglers should generate a flood of complaints from friends, family and everyone they can reach out to.”

Trapping is recognized by every wildlife agency at the state and federal level as a viable and important conservation tool. It helps keep furbearer populations at healthy levels and is important in stemming the spread of wildlife diseases that threaten animals and humans.

The Humane Society of the United States opposes all animal use, including trapping, hunting and fishing. It has a multi-million dollar budget that it invests in legislative and ballot campaigns to ban trapping and hunting. It also has a legal arm to challenge sportsmen’s rights in court.

Sportsmen can make a difference in this fight. In 2002, Jeep raised the ire of sportsmen when it aired a blatantly, anti-hunting commercial called the “Deer Hunter.” After a flood of sportsmen contacts, Jeep pulled the commercial in three days.

Sportsmen nationwide should contact News Corporation and demand that the spot be cancelled. Let the company know that outdoorsmen object to the network acting as a mouthpiece for the animal rights movement. Explain that state wildlife professionals support trapping and see it as a necessary tool for managing furbearers. Inform News Corporation that trapping has proven to be a critical element in the comeback of waterfowl populations, and that managers see it as extremely important in protecting the public from outbreaks of diseases such as rabies.

The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance protects the rights of hunters, anglers and trappers in the courts, legislatures, at the ballot, in Congress and through public education programs. For more information about the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance and its work, call (614) 888-4868 or visit its website, http://www.ussportsmen.org.

_________________Molon Labe.

Last edited by TrapperKD on 01 Jan 2007, 15:27, edited 1 time in total.

I am appalled at your decision to air such erroneous propaganda. I am an animal lover, and work for Petsmart. I love all animals, but I am not so ignorant as to believe the filth that this commercial spews. I am not ignorant. That trap has been illegal for decades. Modern steel live restraints (not leghold as they do not grip the leg, only the pad of the foot), are responsible for the reintroduction of BOBCATS, of OTTERS, of WOLVES, of LYNX, and many many other species that are no longer endangered THANKS to responsible trapping and relocation such as Beaver and Coyotes. These modern traps do not maim. They do not mangle. They do not break the bone. They work so as to grip the leg, not smash it. If the traps broke the leg or cut the skin, the trapper would lose the animal, and that would benefit them not. Biologists and Veterinarians make it a point to say that responsible regulated trapping is the ONLY reason why wild animals have stayed around this long.

The reality of the situation is this. No animal has ever been the victim of extirpation as a result of regulated trapping. The modern steel live restraint is the main tool used in transport of live specimens because it does not cause bodily harm. That's right. Biologists prefer the foothold trap over cage traps, why? Because they break their teeth, skin their heads, and sustain lacerations in box, hav-a-hart, and cage traps. They do not sustain injury in today's modern steel live restraints.

They show teeth. Teeth haven't been on traps in nearly a century. They're outlawed in most states. Today's traps do not close completely! Many of the traps of today have broader faces so as to grip the foot over a larger area, thus reducing the amount of pressure on any one part of the foot. Some of today's traps even come WITH RUBBER JAWS!!!!

I have always been a big fan of your broadcasts. My whole family has, as have my customers, and my friends. We have parties at my house for certain games. But I'm afraid I'm going to have to stop watching your stations until this commercial is no longer aired, because I cannot in good conscience watch lies, or support a station that encourages the spreading of ignorant, sensationalistic propaganda.

I wrote to the as well. We need a list of the sponsors (who pay to advertise) of FOX, and boycott them as well as the FOX network. Perhaps even a few emails to those sponsors letting them know the intention of us to do so might rattle some cages.......

Smitty

_________________"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention
of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved
body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used
up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming-WOW-What
a Ride"